Memorial services will be 6:30-8:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2013, at Many Rivers, about a half mile down East End Road on the left hand side. Her ashes will be spread in Eldred Passage at the mouth of Sadie Cove.

Connie was born on Jan. 6, 1948, to William C. and Nadine Clara (Snyder) Smith in Townsend, Three Forks, Minn. Connie said, “I like little things: little animals, little trees — I like helping things, protecting the ones that are down and need a leg-up. Helping make things beautiful. When I was young my father was in a lot of pain. I tried to help him feel better, tried to help him get well. From the time I was in the 8th grade, I knew I wanted to be a nurse.”

She attended the Trinity School of Nursing in Minot, N.D., from 1970-71 and graduated as a registered nurse. She lived in Oregon and met Bob Murdock in San Francisco and they were married. In California, Connie worked as a psychiatric nurse.

Boats were a large part of their life together. Connie said, “Some people have kids, we had boats; six of them.” Connie and Bob came to Alaska by the Inside Passage in 1981. They lived and worked in Ketchikan for four years and then moved to the Kenai Peninsula.

Connie worked as a private nurse in Homer, through Home Health, in Long Term Care and for three years, she was the director of nurses at Heritage Place in Soldotna. She was also involved with Hospice Home Health in Soldotna for many years. Bob was a machinist and assistant engineer at Bradley Lake. He owned Bob’s Machine Shop in Soldotna.

In April 1994, after the Dalai Lama visited Hawaii, Connie attended the Ashram at Wood Valley Temple, Ka’u District, on the Big Island. Connie said, “I used to go up the trail to the temple for prayers — one time, I was late and hurried up a different way. At the base of the steps, I came upon a symbol that I had been drawing since I was a child, a kind of knot. This was a profound experience and a very powerful retreat.”

This past June, Connie was looking forward to attending the Snyder family reunion in Great Falls, Mont., but she had to cancel that trip because of a resurgence of colon cancer that was diagnosed in May 2010.